to anyone who calls himself a responsible shooter

[geiger]

read this

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/11/001129074745.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080711125733.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041104005801.htm

ok you don't have to immediately go out and remove the first 20 cm of soil like they did in Chernobyl. but think about it, it's not just about the wildlife but most importantly for you.
if i'm not mistaken one of the article mentions bullets as the main source of lead pollution nowadays.

[ronbeaux]

Everything you ever wanted to know about lead exposure. Inhalation being the highest probability.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2009-136/pdfs/2009-136.pdf

[Gene_SC]

What are we trying to say here guys?

[North Pack]

The main source of pollution these days is all the hot air from the worlds "do-gooders" - seriously.

[ronbeaux]

Only thing I'm trying to say is not to put pellets in your omlet for breakfast. Otherwise, keep on plinking.

[Progun]

No doubt some "science" is produced with an agenda in mind. One things for sure, lead bullets have been used all over the planet for centuries. People are still here. Birds, fish, reptiles, trees, water and life in general seems to still go on.Lead being a heavy metal tends to bury itself and remain essentially intact in the environment. AND, there are additional  sources of lead in the environment besides lead bullets and air rifle pellets that are responsible for animal ingestion. The studies that have shown birds of prey and CA Condors that have ingested lead in their systems could not have got such levels from eating lead bullet fragment contaminated gut piles only.There simply aren't enough gut piles to go around to do that.

[ronbeaux]

Take the challenge.

Eat a pellet. You will find it in a day or so if you 'dig' around.

[HILMAN76]

Only thing I'm trying to say is not to put pellets in your omelet for breakfast. Otherwise, keep on plinking.

OMG, I swear I laughed so hard, beer shot out my nose.

Thanks, I needed that

[ronbeaux]

Thanks! (sorry about the wasted beer though)Read the entire CDC/NIOSH pdf file and you can see that we as airgunners are completely under the threshhold of exposure and also look for the words frequently used such as "may" and "might" and "could be" all through the report. NIOSH is the go to source for the Feds to make exposure rules for the workforce. I use these every day in sampling for exposure to various contaminates in the work that we do and we adjust accordingly with the use of proper PPE, Engineering controls, Management systems, etc, to ensure our guys are below the limits imposed by OSHA.

Hearing conservation is a bigger concern than lead and I KNOW none of us have airguns(well except for that guy with the big bore with an air compressor mounted in his truck) that exceed the OSHA 85 decibels TWA limit for an 8 hour period.

And another thing......... Well, I'm not going there.

Just keep on shooting to your hearts content knowing it will not affect you in anyway.

[PeakChick]

I read all three articles. The most telling information I gleaned from them was the following two passages:

Research carried out by Donald Rimstidt and James Craig, professors of geological sciences in Virginia Tech's College of Arts and Sciences, shows that reactions between the lead metal and ions from the soil solutions deposit minerals like cerrussite (lead carbonate) and hydrocerrussite (lead hydroxycarbonate) onto the surfaces of the bullets and shot. Under normal conditions these minerals are quite insoluble. They form a coating on the metal that traps soluble lead, and this coating protects the metal from further corrosion.

This new research improves our understanding of the level of environmental risks associated with shooting ranges and suggests that there is relatively little risk that soluble lead will escape from the shooting ranges

[JOHNNY QUEST]

 I think the reason I'm so wierd is because I used to carry the pellets in my mouth when I was a kid.. I would dump 20 ta 30 in my mouth and go hunting.. I called them pre lubed......

My dog eats pellets by the tin if I leave them out where he can get them... Ever picked upa 1lb. dog turd.. Come ta think about it, he's kinda wierd also... HMMM....

[geiger]

say what you want but i'd hate if somebody would shoot constantly at the part of my property where i grow food, or a place where i frequently hang out. i'd say it's better to have pellets concentrated to one spot you know to keep off limits, than having them all around.
all the "do-gooders"...i have a quite selfish motive actually. i don't mind if you poison yourself as much as you want, just keep me out of it.

but ok we established that lead is not that toxic in non oxidized state. but still, i have chickens that graze around my property and they might eat them, and i regularly eat their eggs. so i'd be pretty *_*_*_*_*_*ed if somebody is actually putting lead in my omlet for breakfast. you would also, so don't act so inconsiderate.
wasn't there a case where some chickens ate lead shots at an English farm and all the eggs had to be rejected.

[RedFeather]

My wife's a VT Hokie alum.  I would go with what their study found.  I have many genuine Civil War bullets and, once they have oxidized, they appear to have been stabilized.  The only thing I have done to them is a little coating of metal preservative to reduce powdering.  I can say that the intact Minie bullets look like they would mic out to within a thousandth of their original diameter, if not closer.

My Izaak Walton range has had extensive reworking in the past fifteen years to accomodate lead concerns.  The back berm has a minimum approved top coating of screed fill dirt.  I think we are set up to replace that layer at some point in time.  Don't know what will be done with the dirt and lead.  I will bet there is over a ton of bullets in it.